Not the Only One in Line
It’s pretty amazing to me how oblivious some people can be to the people around them. The other day I was going to the drive thru line at the bank. There was a truck at one drive thru and a car at the other. I watched as the container was returned to the truck and waited. The truck didn’t move so I continued to wait. The container was then returned to the car. The car didn’t move, so I waited. Finally, the truck moved and I pulled up to the drive thru sending my container up through the shoot. I looked at the car, still next to me. As cars waited in line behind the car, the woman sat counting what seemed to be a few hundred dollars in small bills, meticulously turning them in the same direction as she did. After she completed this task, she reached up on her dashboard and started retrieving the change she had and began to count it. Finally, after I don’t know how long, she put all her money away, started her car and left… just before I was pulling out. I do understanding confirming that the bank did not make an error. However, if it’s a time consuming task I pull off to the side and out of the way of the next car in line. A little consideration goes a long way. People need to understand that “they’re not the only ones here.”
One Response to “Not the Only One in Line”
By Teresa Schultz on Jul 26, 2009 | Reply
Well, you learn something new everyday. I had no idea you get drive thru banks. Although I love South Africa, I guess we’re stuck in the dark ages regarding many things – although perhaps we do have drive thru banks here, just never come across them locally.
What would have happened if the lady in the car did pick up an error? Would she have been able to try get it sorted out from right there, or would she have had to go in to see the bank personnel in person? In that case, it was pointless sitting there counting her money, keeping others in the line waiting.
If she had pulled off to the side, and discovered something wrong, would she have been able to push back in the queue, or would she have had to go to the back?
Of course it’s good manners to get a move on as quickly as possible, and if it was pointless that she was just holding up the queue, that was not a nice thing to do!
Here in East London South Africa, there’s a lot of road construction going on near a new big shopping complex at Hemingways Hotel and casino complex, that will be ready and opening its doors before the end of this year – and rush hour traffic is a bit of a nighmare in the area, near the road construction works, but luckily there’s usually a traffic officer on duty during rush hour that helps regulate the traffic, but the other day it was raining, and as we came up the offramp, heading back home after dropping my boys at school, we saw the traffic officer leaving – perhaps she’d been unprepared for the rain as, although welcome, we hadn’t had in ages. It’s a three way intersection there, and it was wonderful to see people being courteous, allowing each other to take turns to go, but I felt really sad that when one young man decided to let a car or two go through, that a whole string of cars followed those first two, bumper to bumper, and too quickly for the young man (with a whole line of traffic behind him, who thank goodness didn’t hoot at the poor guy), to do anything but edge forward little by little, hoping a driver would eventually appreciate what he’d done, and let him though.
Somebody did eventually, but it was after about 30 cars had gone through, instead of just the one or two the young man had intended to let through. Shame on all those drivers! And well done to that young man!